Costa Rica

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Hello once
more! How was your: a) Easter; b)
Sunday; c) 4/20; d) all of the above?

Mine was
pleasant enough. To clarify, I was
celebrating Easter and not 4/20. I
wasn’t celebrating it for any religious purpose – mainly it’s just a family
gathering for me. Any reason to get
together to eat food and talk and take pictures is good enough for me. Plus, I had a fun 3-day weekend, which is a
rarity unless I request off of work.

Meal-wise,
back when I was an omnivore, Easter was filled with ham, broccoli casserole,
and sweet potatoes with marshmallows melted on top. I didn’t really stray far from those three staples but I would
always overdo it and stuff myself silly.
When I went vegetarian, Easter wasn’t that hard of a holiday to survive
since I just cut out the ham and loaded up on the other two dishes. This was before I quickly realized not even
marshmallows qualified as vegetarian but before I realized that, it seemed to
work out just fine for me since the remaining two dishes were always my favorites
any way.

In fact,
most holidays since going vegetarian and then vegan weren’t too terribly sad or
difficult because most of my favorite dishes were already vegetarian. I had my fair share of turkey or pig but my
favorites were always the side dishes.
Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, broccoli casseroles – these
were just a few of my favorite things.
(You’re now singing that song in your head, aren’t you? You’re welcome.)

Even going
vegan wasn’t too bad because my wife always stepped up and dominated. I was never lacking in amazing dishes
holiday after holiday, year after year.
I never felt jealous or disappointed or wishing for a bite of food that
wasn’t vegan. In fact, quite
truthfully, I thought the dishes I was eating since the transition were far
tastier. And my favorite holiday dish,
my aunt’s sweet potatoes, was still available to me because she used vegan
marshmallows on a small portion of potatoes just for me to enjoy. Seriously, Dandies vegan marshmallows are
amazing! I was a marshmallow addict
before going vegan and I am serious when I say these are far superior. I can eat nearly the entire bag without
being violently ill. Check them out!

Don’t even get me started on the
countless desserts my wife would toil away making for each holiday,
either. That’s a completely separate
entry.

This year
was a bit more low-key for foods but still amazing, none-the-less. We kicked breakfast off with zucchini
waffles that my wife made, which sounded odd to me but turned out great! It was a test recipe she made for a vegan
blogger (at Cupcakes and Kale), Jess Nadel. I
was sad that there were only two to eat.
I’m sorry but I was in such a rush to scarf breakfast down that I didn’t
bother taking a photo or two. I’m still
getting used to the whole “always have a camera handy so you can blog about it”
thing. I’m a fool! I will just say that you are in for a treat
if this recipe makes it to the blogger’s cookbook.

We didn’t
eat dinner at the family gathering but we did bring a chocolate-orange cake
from Nava Atlas that could be found in her book, Vegan Holiday Kitchen. Vegan desserts always seem to go over really
well with omnivores. It goes over even
better when you don’t tell them it’s vegan before they eat it. The reaction is generally always, “It’s
vegan? Whaaaaaaaa?” and then they eat
more. That is, it’s the reaction if
they don’t already know you’re vegan. I
quite enjoyed it because it had the perfect balance between chocolate and
orange flavor. Some times you get a lot
of chocolate where the orange flavor is overpowering but this was perfection.

When we ended up eating a real meal
afterward, dinner included a lemon-asparagus risotto dish, a citrus roasted
tofu dish, and a cinnamon-roasted baby carrot dish. All were quite good but the risotto was my favorite. I love risotto and I could probably eat it
every day. This risotto was baked in
the oven, too, which made it a bit unique.
Not that I could tell. Like I’ve
said, my wife is the cook. You could
tell me you made the risotto on the grill and I probably wouldn’t know what
that meant. The tofu was my second
favorite. I was quite happy that there
were leftovers, too. All three dishes
came out of Nava’s book, as well.

Then we had yet another dessert –
carrot cake cupcakes. They were
amazing! Thank god for my fast(ish)
metabolism because I could’ve had the entire batch in one sitting. If you think the picture is mouthwatering,
imagine being in the same room with them.
I’m just glad the pictures I took turned out because I was drooling all
over the plate. These, too, came out of
Nava’s book. Have I won you over yet
with this book? Go get it and you can be
in flavor heaven, too!

We finished the night with a nice walk to work off all
that food.A very nice Sunday off of work.Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go eat
leftovers because all of this typing has made me hungry.Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

I’m sorry
for the extended delay in posts. Both
my wife and I have had new work schedules and getting on a regular home/work
schedule has taken some time. Onto the
posting!

Ever since
I went vegan, I have fallen into a belief that I should be superhuman
healthy. After all, I partly went vegan
to get into, and stay in, optimal health.
I thought that all that really required was to eat right and – BAM! –
I’d be fine. It might not come as a
surprise that I’ve always been worried that if I catch even a small cold, it
would reflect poorly upon veganism as a healthy lifestyle. I spent so much time discussing the healthy
side effects that I have had and that my wife has had going vegan with people,
that I thought people would call me a hypocrite even if I sneezed. Whenever I would go into work with a head
cold, I imagined somebody saying something like, “Uh oh! The vegan is sick! So much for the invincibility of you vegans! Eat pigs, everyone!” Then I would either slink into a corner or
cough all over them. Either way, it was
a poor situation to find oneself.

I thought
all of this even though I can string sentences together and form complex
thought. I want to be the shining
example of peak human health to give veganism a good name so it can’t be
helped. I think this without realizing
changing and improving your health has multiple facets. I do exercise but I’m still as skinny as a
stick. If somebody gives me anything
heavier than a brick to carry, I’m sore the next morning. (That’s hyperbole, by the way. I’m still worried my humor doesn’t
translate.) I just half-expect a change
in eating habits is enough to get me to peak performance, as if I could fall
asleep like Tobey Maguire and wake up with Spider-Man powers.

Tobey
Maguire, by the way, is a vegan. I
didn’t even mean to use him as an example because of that fact either. I just love all things Spider-Man.

Not only
that but I still have seasonal allergies and acne – as I’ve stated
previously. Veganism hasn’t been able
to eradicate those two things completely but that doesn’t discredit
veganism. So why should I worry about
getting a cold when veganism can’t be a cure-all for everything else about me?

I recently
listened to a podcast by the great Colleen Patrick-Goudreau where she was
discussing healthy vegans in response to an e-mail somebody had sent her. The e-mail was from somebody who felt like
she shouldn’t tell people she’s vegan just because she is over-weight. Colleen quite logically stated that there is
no one example of a healthy vegan. One
shouldn’t be discouraged to proclaim him or herself a vegan if he or she
happens to be overweight. Your body
image does not reflect on veganism.
Just as getting sick doesn’t reflect on the virtues of veganism.

I do not
know why it took hearing that coming from somebody else for it to finally click
but it did. And again I’m indebted to
CPG’s podcast.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. You'd know this if you had clicked on her link already. D'uh.

However,
that doesn’t mean that the lesson always sticks.

Recently, I
fainted for no (at the time) apparent reason.
This was the day that my wife and I had gone to The Chicago Diner for
breakfast. After we did our running
around we collapsed for a nice evening nap (I told you our life/work schedules
had changed). Upon waking, I quickly
got out of bed, took about two steps to my desk, and that’s it. The next thing I know, I’m coming to on my
bedroom floor with my wife and mom surrounding me. My wife had been calling my name and since I had no idea what the
hell was going on, I kept telling her I was fine.

They told
me that contrary to what I believed, I was not fine because I had fainted and
hadn’t responded for several seconds. I
thought that was ludicrous because I’ve never fainted before and I had always
imagined – thanks to Hollywood – that when one faints, they swoon a bit, mumble
something silly, their eyes roll up, and then gracefully fall to the
ground. The only thing I could recall
was turning the TV on and then “waking up” with everyone surrounding me. What I had been was sweaty, weak, and
nauseous. The meal that my mom was
making for everyone other than my wife and I was overpowering to my nose (everyone
else said they could hardly smell it).
But to faint? I had thought at
the time that that was crazy.

As the
night wore on, I was equally intrigued by this fainting business and also
worried. My veganism had cured me of
every illness and woe, right? So what
was wrong? It had to be
something bad because in the age of Web, M.D., a hangnail means cancer.

With much
reluctance, I scheduled my first doctor’s appointment in several years at the
insistence of everyone in my family. I
had never had a physical before so I figured now would be as good of a time to
get one as any. However, since it had
been ages since I had visited my doctor, I had to get a preliminary appointment
first before I could get a physical.
Joy! Two doctor’s visits for the
price of one!

I went in
on the following Monday, retold what had happened to the nurse and the doctor,
and then discussed possible outcomes.
Now, doctor visits for most vegans is a whole new blog entry, but for
now let me just say I was a bit worried the topic of veganism and its viability
as a healthy lifestyle would rear its head.
I was prepared for a discussion but when I mentioned it, my doctor
didn’t even flinch. He simply nodded
and gave a, “Mmhmm.” I was quite
surprised but I should’ve known it wouldn’t be a big deal because my doctor had
always been cool and seemed more evolved than the average doctor. Or perhaps I’m full of shit.

My doctor, Dr. Doogie Howser.

He did
state that I probably just fainted from getting out of bed too quickly, and
since I hadn’t had much water to drink that day, I was also dehydrated. It was a perfect storm. That eased my mind a lot. He did want to draw some blood to make sure
there wasn’t anything wrong. I also had
never had my blood drawn, as far as I knew, so this was just turning out to be
all kinds of fun! Since I also hadn’t
had much water that day, drawing blood was a big process. So what’s the real takeaway from every step
of this situation? DRINK WATER!

I waited
until my results came in and I am happy to report that I am the most amazing
human being ever to walk the earth.
Okay, not quite. I am, however,
healthy. So I have that going for me,
which is nice. No anemia, no thyroid
issues, no liver or kidney problems, and no nutritional issue. My glucose level was within normal range,
which that alone is a miracle since I’ve grown up mainlining sugar into my
bloodstream. Take THAT Type-2 diabetes!

I think the
lesson is that there is no vegan completely immune to every illness and it is a
lesson that I’ll have to try harder to remember. I can still be a healthy vegan and have bad things happen. Shit indeed does happen. I can’t let veganism alone be my shield
against bad things. Oh, right, and
drinking water also helps (repetition helps reinforce the takeaways).

How about
you all? Any interesting doctor stories
or health-related issues you’ve had to deal with as a vegan/vegetarian? I want to see how other doctors have treated
vegans.

Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

You can find Colleen Patrick-Goudreau on a number of
social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. DEFINITELY check out her podcast! You can find her on Twitter at @JoyfulVegan.The cartoon of the doctor was found using Google's image search.